Chapter Text
This had been a mistake.
Owen wasn’t even entirely sure what he was doing at a school event. He had planned on just packing his things for the weekend and heading to Legundo’s a day early. Which he had been in the middle trying to do when Sausage practically dragged him out of their dorm and excitedly mentioned some English department social for the writing majors.
”Come on, it’ll be fun!” Sausage had said, an arm still annoyingly wrapped around one of Owen’s that made his whole body tense up more than usual when he was around his roommate. “You never hang out with me anymore, this’ll be perfect!”
”M,” Owen grumbled, resisting the urge to just turn into a bat right then and there to fly away as fast as possible, “you’re a writing major, in what world would this social event also apply to me.”
”Well it’s put on by the English department, and Writing does fall under them as well you know!” Sausage replied with a grin, bumping Owen’s shoulder in a way that made him need to bite back a hiss at the action. “Besides, it’s basically like a poetry reading night, you just gotta sit there and watch!”
The man wasn’t giving Owen much room to argue as he continued to drag him out of the dorm hall and towards the English building.
Which is where he found himself seated at a table relatively close to the stage, thankful at the very least that the lights were dimmed and the tables held fake candles that provided a more warm toned light that was easier on his eyes. If it were any other department, Owen figured the chatter around the room would be much louder than the polite conversations happening around him.
Sausage still would not leave him by himself, making any escape Owen was planning near impossible without an airtight excuse. He was stuck for the rest of the night, it seemed. Wonderful.
Occasionally, his roommate would check his phone, mumbling something about his friends running late. Great, Owen thought, he’d be stuck with not just Sausage, but with Martyn and Ren as well.
Could the night possibly get any worse?
While still waiting for the event to start, and while Sausage was still rambling on about some writing assignment he’d been working on, Owen pulled out his phone, opening his most recent conversation.
Owen
It would be a bad idea to kill my roommate in public, yes?
He didn’t even need to put his phone down to await a response before he received one.
Doctor
Definitely.
Why do we want to kill Sausage?
Owen
He’s dragged me to some event on campus put on by the English department. Dumb and Dumber are supposed to be here as well, so actually maybe 3 murders are in order.
Doctor
Absolutely not. Please do not kill anyone on campus.
Owen
So I could off of campus then?
Doctor
Owen.
Owen
You’re no fun.
Doctor
Do you want me to come find you?
Biting his lip a little, Owen hesitated, staring down at the message. He could, having Legundo here with him didn’t sound like the worst idea. If he was forced to be here, then he could at least be comfortable enough to not want to kill everyone in the room.
The sound of Sausage’s voice continuing to ramble, not noticing his text conversation, was the only thing from agreeing to have Legundo make his way to the English building. Owen wasn’t sure he could handle his roommate knowing about his… thing with Legundo. He already had to hear the other three members of his coven tease him about it, he didn’t need it to spread through the entire department.
Owen
No, I’ll be alright. I’ll probably swing by after though.
Doctor
I’ll make sure to have dinner ready for you then.
Let me know if you change your mind, Owen.
Owen felt the edge of his mouth twitch up a little, catching the smile before it could fully cross his lips as he put his phone away, and he noticed Sausage turning to look at him. It occurred to him in the silence between them that his roommate had said something to him, awaiting a response.
“Sorry, what?”
“I asked if you’d looked over the program at all,” Sausage repeated his question, a knowing grin across his face that felt a little too mischievous for his liking.
Scowling slightly, Owen shook his head. He was immediately handed a small booklet, the pages already open to the show’s set list for the night. He wasn’t quite sure what he should be looking for until he caught a familiar name that had his stomach dropping.
M. Sausage - Twilight
Now it made sense why his roommate had dragged him here.
“You’re performing something tonight?” Owen asked as his gaze snapped up to the man, who was grinning proudly back at him.
“Sure am! You know that novel I’ve been working on for class, the vampire one?” Sausage sounded so excited, but Owen’s entire body tensed up at the mention of vampires. He just nodded in reply. “Yeah, I’m going to read out part of my draft!”
“Wonderful.” Owen muttered through gritted teeth, hoping the man seated across from him wouldn’t question him on his tone at all.
Luckily, if Sausage had noticed, he didn’t mention of it. Instead, something else caught his attention, and Owen followed his gaze to see the people he’d been dreading since his roommate first brought them up.
Sausage stood as Martyn and Ren approached their table, excitedly giving the two a big hug in greeting. “You guys finally made it!” He said as he released them from the hugs, moving to sit down in his spot at the table as his friends went to find a seat as well.
“Sure did! Specs took his time getting ready, that’s why it took us so long,” Martyn said as he sat down, and as if he just noticed that Owen was there, his eyes widened a little in surprise before he just offered a polite smile. “Hiya Owen, I didn’t know you were going to be here too.”
“Oh! Pleasure to see you, Mr. Owen,” Ren said, with a more genuine smile than Martyn had given him as he clapped a hand on his shoulder for a moment.
Owen tried not to react, instead tensing his body again to keep from lunging at the man now seated next to him. “Nice to see you too, Ren.” He said instead, doing his best to give Ren a polite smile.
“Right, now that you’re here to make sure Owen can’t run off-” Rude, Owen thought as Sausage stood up yet again, “I’m going to find us some food!”
“Good, ‘cause I’m starvin’.” Martyn said, leaning back in his seat with an arm against the back of it, his polite smile turned into a proper grin as he turned his attention to Sausage for a moment. “Owen looks like he could do with somethin’ to eat too.”
Scowling, Owen looked away from the table to ignore the statement. What he couldn’t ignore though, was the slight pang of hunger in his gut at the mention of food. It.. had in fact been a while since his last meal. Legundo would be disappointed with how long it had been, but he didn’t quite have the same sort of access to a steady supply of blood like he does at the man’s apartment. During the week, it was the hardest to get away and feed himself properly.
He wasn’t like Scott and Shelby, who weren’t living on campus and didn't have to worry about a human roommate. He eats enough to get by, and his weekend stays with Legundo kept him full to make attending classes slightly easier. And as much as he’d grown to like the brood he’d found in the others, he wasn’t truly one of their coven. Owen belonged with them, but only just barely. Scott wasn’t his sire, and he wasn’t a fledgling anymore. They weren’t obligated to help him the way they helped each other.
“I’ll be back then!” Sausage’s voice pulled him from his thoughts, and he watched as he took Martyn’s hand for a moment, seeming to squeeze it, before running off Owen presumed towards whatever food table the English department had set up for the event.
In the time it took for Sausage to come back, not much happened around the table, which was perfectly fine with Owen. Martyn happily kept himself distracted with his phone, and Ren was taking his time reading through the event program. Owen himself just sort of sat back in his chair a bit, picking at the chipped polish on his nails absentmindedly.
Eventually though, Sausage made it back with what looked like a mountain of food piled up onto two plates. He set everything down, then produced two more plates before dividing all the food up between the four plates.
Before Owen could say anything, his mouth opening with the start of protest, one of the plates was set down in front of him. Two slices of pizza, a handful of chips, and what looked and smelt like spicy chicken wings practically stared back at him.
“Sausage, you really didn’t have to-” Owen started mumbling, but he was cut off by his roommate before he could say anything else.
“Oh come on, I never see you in the kitchen whenever you’re at the dorm, when was the last time you ate?” Sausage asked, staring at him pointedly. Owen just sort of stared back, nothing coming to mind on what to tell his roommate. It wasn’t like he could admit his last meal was likely some small animal he’d found in the woods around Scott’s house earlier that week.
Sausage took the silence as an admission, and he just nodded. “Yup, exactly what I thought. Have as much as you want, free food is free food!”
With his gaze back snapping down to the plate of food in front of him, Owen could already feel his stomach churning just staring at it. He thought absentmindedly that it did smell nice, the same way some scented candles did, just not appetizing in the slightest. Without needing to look back up, he could practically feel eyes on him, as if ensuring that he would eat.
Biting back a sigh, Owen scooped up one of the pizza slices, and tried to not let his hands shake too much as he lifted it up to take a bite.
Almost instantly, his body practically recoiled from the food as he nearly gagged. The pizza tasted almost bitter to him, and he tried to not let it show at all. Owen had to remember that humans needed to chew most of the time, an action that he was not that used to doing since he preferred blood over raw meat. As soon as he swallowed, out of the corner of his eye he caught Sausage nodding a little in satisfaction, as if he got what he wanted.
Was this his roommate’s plan all along? Was Owen dragged here not so he could be subjected more to the vampire romance novel the man had been writing all semester, but so that he could eat?
Owen would be almost touched by the implication if it wasn’t him, and if it wasn’t Sausage.
Around the same time, the event properly began as someone got up on the stage to do some kind of welcome announcement. Owen forced himself to keep eating the food, taking time between bites so that it wasn’t too glaringly obvious that his stomach was churning at its contents.
Time seemed to move by slowly, and Owen began zoning out, staring vaguely in the same direction as the stage as people went up and down to perform their pieces so it looked like he was paying attention. It was getting harder to keep any semblance of focus on the actual performances when he was spending all of it on keeping up appearances.
At some point, he noticed Sausage had gotten up and left the table, excitedly muttering about his turn being soon as Ren and Martyn wished him luck. Owen just nodded slightly as his roommate left, fearing that if he opened his mouth to speak he might be sick with how apparent nausea stirred in his stomach.
It wasn’t until Owen took a bite of one of the chicken wings that he felt the whole room spin.
Garlic, he recognized immediately. It tasted very strongly of garlic, and he lost what very little control he had over the entire ordeal.
Owen gagged, instinctively swallowing down the piece of chicken before he coughed, trying to muffle it as quickly as he could.
“Mr. Owen!” Ren gasped, and Owen felt a hand clap against his back. His vision swam too much for him to really care about the contact. “Are you alright there, lad?”
“‘M fine,” Owen coughed, trying to clear his throat as he put the remainder of the offending garlic-flavored wing down on the half-eaten plate of food.
“I’ll get you some water,” Owen tried to protest again as Ren got up and quickly left the table, leaving him sputtering a little.
Desperately, Owen tried to calm himself down, taking deep breaths to calm his upset stomach as his mind raced. Sausage couldn’t have known, there was no way. The only person on campus besides the brood who knew was Legundo, and there was no way that the man would ever let his secret slip, not when he was just as tangled up in the affairs of the creatures of the night.
“You sure you’re alright there, mate?” He heard Martyn’s voice through the nauseous fog in his mind.
Owen blinked to try and get his vision to stop swimming, and it worked only a little bit. He sputtered one more cough, and nodded. “Yeah. I’m going to get some air.” He tried not to cringe at the way his voice sounded practically choked as he got up from his seat.
Uncaring of the man bringing him back a glass of water, Owen all but stormed out of the room, not bothering to mumble apologies as he moved through the crowds of tables while someone was up on the stage.
Owen didn’t breathe until he got outside, the crisp night air feeling only slightly refreshing as he took a deep breath. He felt his vision swim again, his stomach churning unpleasantly. He felt heavy with the weight of the human food he’d consumed, not really easily digestible with his vampiric nature. It wasn’t at all helped by the piece of garlic chicken also in the mix.
Frantically, Owen looked around to make sure the coast was clear before he willed what remained of his dwindling energy into his bat form. The entire world shrunk, and he winced as all the lights became brighter around him.
It was a struggle to stay airborne, the heavy human food in his gut weighing him down a little in a way he was unaccustomed to while in bat form. Everything churned violently, making every time Owen flapped his wings more and more uncoordinated. It was also hard to track his path, the once very familiar route from campus to the little apartment where Legundo lived made slightly unrecognizable. He tried to focus his swimming vision on familiar landmarks around campus, taking way longer than he ever remembered it taking to get to the apartment.
He wanted to cry. It had been decades, no- maybe centuries, since Owen had felt this sick to his stomach, his head pounding with a nausea induced headache and his limbs feeling so heavy with the exertion of flight. He was very aware that the energy needed to maintain his current form was rapidly fading, and he nearly sobbed at the idea of returning to his human form so far from the apartment.
Just a little longer, Owen told himself, taking heaving breaths to steady himself before he finally spotted it. He nearly cried in relief when he saw the complex, a familiar and all too welcome sight.
Quickly, he flew towards the one window he recognized around the back of the building. The blinds were open, much to Owen’s delight, and the kitchen lights were on. He practically slammed his tiny body against the glass, the action making dots dance in his vision rapidly. He landed ungracefully on the little ledge under the window and didn’t hesitate to begin scratching his tiny claws against the glass frantically.
Legs, Owen practically cried, the sound coming out as a desperate squeak as he searched for the apartment’s occupant. Within seconds, a figure walked into the room, and Owen doubled his efforts at scratching the window when he recognized the man walking towards him.
Legundo looked around, confused for a moment before his eyes landed on the window. Frantically, Owen squeaked, feeling the last remaining bits of his energy slipping away. He doesn't think he’d ever seen the human move as fast as he did, leaning over the sink in order to open the window.
The moment it was open, Legundo extended a hand to let Owen climb into the apartment, and the bat didn’t hesitate to scramble into his open palm. Legundo pulled his hand back inside, and with the other, he closed the window. “Owen? Is that you?”
Instantaneously, Owen’s hold on his bat form snapped, and he suddenly shifted back to his human form, stumbling on the landing out of Legundo’s hand. “Whoa-” The man caught him before he could collapse onto the floor, and Owen clutched his stomach tightly.
There was a ringing in his ears that made everything sound muffled. “Are you alright?” He vaguely heard Legundo ask, his arms around him to help keep Owen upright. He immediately shook his head, though the action just made everything spin.
Owen’s stomach gurgled, it was the only warning he had before he tore out of Legundo’s arms to whip around to the sink. He made it just in time to lean over it before he gagged, dry heaving into the sink in a way that just doubled the nauseous feeling.
A hand was at Owen’s back, firmly placed but still familiarly gentle, just as another pulled his hair back away from his face. “It’s okay,” Legundo murmured next to him, beginning to gently rub his back, “you’re okay, let it out Owen.”
As if on cue, Owen’s stomach bubbled uncomfortably as he threw up its contents into the sink. Bile and chunks of food felt as though it was clawing its way back up his throat as he threw up, resulting in him making a nasty gagging sound as he did that had his whole body shuttering at the sound and feeling.
Owen screwed his eyes shut as he heaved into the sink, and even though his stomach felt painfully empty after a moment, he still sputtered and threw up bile. All the while, Legundo stayed right next to him, rubbing his back soothingly and murmured reassurances.
Eventually, it was as if Owen’s body finally gave out. He nearly collapsed against the counter when he finally stopped vomiting, the only thing preventing him from doing so and then falling to the floor was the human beside him, catching him and keeping him upright.
Owen whined, leaning into Legundo’s arms and tucking his head against the man’s shoulder. His whole body ached, though his stomach more than anything.
”Let’s get you in bed,” Legundo said softly, and he readjusted his hold on Owen in order to lift him up off the floor, beginning to carry him out of the kitchen.
It was as if Owen weighed nothing with how easily Legundo picked him up, but he didn’t complain as he was carried. His vision had spun a little as his body shifted, worried only momentarily that he would be sick all over again, but he managed to keep it in.
Legundo moved carefully through the apartment, headed to the bedroom down the hall, still murmuring softly to Owen to keep him calm. It didn’t take very long to walk through into the familiar bedroom, not bothering to turn on a light before he gently put Owen down in the bed.
Owen didn’t want to let go, desperately clinging to Legundo’s arm as he tried to pull away. He bit back a whine as he looked up at the man, “.. stay?”
With a gentle smile, Legundo bent back down a little, his free hand reaching to brush some hair out of Owen’s face and behind his ear. “I will,” he promised softly, leaning further down to press a gentle kiss to the vampire’s forehead, “but first, you got to let me get a few things to take care of you, alright?”
Despite the numb ache in his chest as Legundo moved to leave again, Owen just nodded. Instead of just pulling the man down into the bed with him, he opted to curl into the blankets around him, nuzzling against the pillow a little while he waited.
Now that his stomach was forcibly empty, Owen could breathe a little easier, the feeling of being so completely nauseated was almost entirely gone. It was still barely present if he focused on it, but he just let his eyes close again as he took slow, deep breaths to steady himself.
It felt like seconds and hours passed simultaneously before Legundo returned, and Owen opened his eyes as he heard the footsteps down the hall, and he saw as the man returned with a pitcher in one hand and a bottle of something in the other. He set the items down on the bedside table before he sat down beside Owen’s curled form on the bed, and the vampire was immediately reaching for him.
With another soft smile, Legundo let him take his hand, Owen’s grip tight. He made no move to pull the man to lay down with him, just content enough to have some kind of contact. With his free hand, Legundo ran his fingers through Owen’s hair, the motion soothing him enough to let his eyes slip closed again as a shaky, tentative purr rumbled through his chest.
”Do you want to tell me what happened?” Legundo asked softly, his hand in Owen’s hair not faltering.
Owen sighed, frowning for a second as he hesitated. Legundo didn’t push him, just let his thumb rub over his knuckles soothingly as he let the vampire take his time. “Sausage… he meant well, I assume,” He started slowly, trying not to cringe at the way his voice sounded scratchy to reflect how sore he felt, “He brought over so much food, I didn’t…”
”Oh, I see,” Legundo breathed, squeezing Owen’s hand in understanding. “I’m sure he did mean well by it.”
”Something had garlic on it,” Owen admitted, and just the memory alone had his stomach churning nauseously all over again. “I didn’t know it…” He had to take a deep breath as he felt his insides flip and gurgle all over again.
”Do you need to throw up again?” Legudo asked quickly, ignoring the whine from Owen as he removed his hand from his hair to grab the pitcher from the table beside the bed.
”N-No, I-“ But even as he was saying it, he had to bite back a gag.
Gently, but quickly, Legundo pulled Owen to sit up, pushing the pitcher into his hands and moved to pull his hair back again. “It’s better to get it out than keeping it in, Owen.”
With his eyes screwed shut, Owen tried to bite it back, but he wasn’t able to hold it, especially with Legundo’s soft encouragement. He dry heaved over the pitcher, making a horrific gagging noise as he did that only made his throat hurt more as his already empty stomach tried to spit something out that wasn’t there.
It didn’t take as long as the first time, and after a moment when his stomach felt like it stopped convulsing, Owen’s dry heaving turned to gagging before it turned to gasping for air. All the while, Legundo kept one hand holding his hair back and the other rubbing gently across his back.
”Sorry..” Owen mumbled as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, staring down at the spit inside of the pitcher.
Legundo shook his head, “There’s nothing to be sorry for, Owen,” He murmured, letting go of his hair when he was sure the vampire was done, “Like I said, it’s better out than in.”
”I feel awful,” Owen scowled, shakily putting the pitcher to the side before moving to lean against Legundo, tucking his head against the man’s shoulder.
”Mm, I bet,” Legundo hummed, not hesitating to wrap his arms around Owen, giving him a gentle squeeze around his shoulders. That shaky purr was back as Owen pressed into the embrace, feeling safe in the man’s arms. “Guess this means we just need to be very careful about keeping you fed.”
Owen bit back a whine at that, and he felt tears begin to well up in his eyes, blinking them away furiously before Legundo could notice them. “I don’t want to think about food right now,” He grumbled.
”Duely noted,” Legundo nodded, still speaking softly, “Do you at least think you could manage some tea and some meds? I want to try and soothe your stomach so you don’t have to ride it out for so long.”
Tensing a little at the mention of medication, Owen hesitated. With his stomach sufficiently empty, he couldn’t tell if the nauseous pain was from having just thrown up again or from being hungry, though the idea of anything made his head spin.
Sensing his hesitation, Legundo leaned back a bit, much to Owen’s dismay, in order to meet his gaze. “Will you at least try?”
He hesitated again, only for a moment, before Owen nodded. “Fine. I’ll try.”
Legundo smiled, and he leaned forward a little to press a kiss to the top of Owen’s head, which made his purr get slightly louder for a moment.
”Let me go and get the tea then, it should be ready by now, but I’ll be right back, okay?”
Which meant Owen would need to let go of the human, and he really didn’t want to do that. But, he did promise he’d try. So, reluctantly, Owen gingerly crept out of Legundo’s embrace, settling back into the bed and sitting up against the pillows and headboard as Legundo headed out of the room and back towards the kitchen.
True to his word, Legundo was back in only a few minutes, a different mug than he was used to using in his hands as he approached the bed. “Now, you don’t need to drink all of it,” he said as he sat down beside Owen, “it’s just some ginger tea to help settle your stomach. Liquids I imagine are much easier to handle even for a vampire. I also brought some Pepto-Bismol for your nausea.”
Owen couldn’t help but scoff, a slight grin crossing his face. “You know back in my day, if you had an upset stomach, they would’ve just purged you and called it a day if you couldn’t afford any of the medicines to ‘fix’ it,” He muttered as he took the mug from Legundo, staring down at the warm, earthy smelling tea before taking a slow sip.
The tea immediately helped to soothe Owen’s sore throat, warming him slightly as he drank it. It felt much better than when he’d eaten the food at the English social, and he hummed slightly in content.
Legundo smiled at him, leaning forward to press a soft kiss to the side of Owen’s head. “Welcome to the miracle of modern medicine, love,” he said before he moved to climb properly into the bed beside him.
Owen nearly choked on the tea at the name Legundo used, feeling his face warm slightly in reaction. He just cleared his throat, looking away in order to hide it. It wasn’t even the first time Legundo had used that little pet name for him, love, but every time he did, it was like his brain would short circuit. He took another drink of the tea to distract from being a little flustered.
He heard Legundo chuckle, then he shuffled a bit before a small cup was being handed to him. “Here, take some of this so we can hopefully avoid throwing up more tonight if we can.” Legundo said, and Owen turned to face him again.
Handing off the mug of tea, Owen took the small little medicine cup filled with too bright a pink liquid with the oddest smell he’d ever experienced. “What in the world is this stuff and why is it pink?”
”It’s just Pepto-Bismol. It’s to help with nausea when you’re sick.” Legundo shrugged, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, before he set down the half-drunk tea on the bedside table on a coaster.
Owen took a deep breath, dreading putting literally anything else into his mouth that wasn’t the tea, before downing the contents of the medicine cup, being hit with some kind of odd-minty taste as he swallowed. He nearly gagged again, and he noticed the way Legundo tensed nervously as he did. But, after a moment, he managed to keep it down. Both Owen and Legundo let out a relieved sigh.
Now that he was properly settled, and with all of his energy sapped, Owen pressed himself into Legundo’s side, snuggling up as exhaustion seeped into his undead soul.
”Tired?” Legundo asked quietly, though he settled further into the bed so that he and Owen were both laying down rather than sitting up, putting an arm around the vampire to hold him close.
”Very,” Owen murmured, his eyes already drifting closed. “Today was… a lot.”
”I bet,” Legundo hummed, and Owen felt him kiss the top of his head once again. “Just get some rest, I’ll be here for you when you wake up.”
And, well, Owen didn’t argue, just instead let sleep take him as he was cradled and protected in Legundo’s arms.